As I’m looking outside at the fluffy flakes of ice, which somehow get inside of your boots even when you constrict your ankle circulation, I thought about my first experience with winter on campus. As a native of Rochester, you would think I would have an understanding of snowy winters, as City-Data ranked Rochester as having the 12th highest average snowfall per year in the US... However, in high school, I went from a heated house to a heated bus/car to a heated school and vice versa. It never occurred to me the amount of winter walking I would have to do on RIT’s campus. Here’s a compilation of various things I’ve learned that will help you make it through this winter:

1. Layer, Layer, Layer

Seriously. No such thing as “too many” layers. Layering allows you to become your own thermostat by being able to adjust your temperature based on the environment. Typically, I wear two sweatshirts under my double layered winter coat... but I have cold blood, so find out what works for you.

2. Invest in Winter Gear

Having a durable, waterproof winter coat could make a huge difference. Get some good quality, waterproof boots. I got lucky that LL Bean boots became in style recently, as they are quite warm and reliable. Ear muffs or hat, a scarf, and thick gloves will keep you toasty.

3. Learn How to Walk

It sounds silly, but there is a strategy to walking on icy walkways. Walk slowly, bend your knees a little more, take smaller steps, put your center of gravity over your front foot. This technique is called the “Penguin walk” and it has been advertised by RIT on multiple occasions. If I had a dollar for every person I’d seen wipeout from walking improperly, I could buy a mid-sized apartment in New York City.

4. Learn How to Drive

If you’ve never driven in heavy winter conditions before, don’t assume you’ll know what you’re doing right away. The first time, drive a short distance away with a friend in the car who has experience with driving in bad weather. Again, drive slowly, be cautious, and don’t think you can drive your Audi through the winter semester. Invest in a snow brush and shovel and keep your gas tank filled!

5. Learn to Have Winter Fun

It’s easy to lock yourself inside and watch Netflix for four months straight (no judgement), but snow and ice can be fun! Orchestrate a large-scale snowball fight, build a snowman, go sledding or skiing or snowboarding, build an igloo, go cross-country skiing, or go hiking! Use hand warmers, dress warmly, and try different types of hot cocoa. RIT recently did their “Freeze Fest” festival with lots of free giveaways and fun outdoor activities. Take advantage of these things!

I'm in my final year of college. Last night, I applied for graduation... it's actually starting to feel real now. So, what next? How is RIT preparing me to graduate? Do I have any advice for those just starting out in their college career?

What next?

Next semester, I will graduate. Some people will continue on to higher education, maybe get a masters degree. For me, I will be entering the workforce. I have an idea of the type of company I want to work for and will be applying to companies, attending networking and career fairs, and working on my portfolio to get my work out there for companies to see.

What has RIT done to prepare me?

Though my major is one of the few at RIT that does not require any co-ops (cooperative learning experiences) or any internships, they still do a lot to help me get those experiences. Every fall and spring semester, RIT holds a campus-wide career fair. I can usually find a few companies that are looking for New Media Designers, but those career fairs are geared more towards engineering and computing. I have had far better success at Creative Industry Day, a career fair specifically for design-related majors. I actually got my last two internships and co-ops through Creative Industry Day - one in Rochester, NY, at Butler/Till; the other in San Francisco at Odopod.

This semester, I am also taking New Media Career Skills - a class focused on resume and portfolio building. We often have guest speakers come in and share their experience. Some are freelances, others have worked in large companies and small agencies. It's nice to hear their advice on the job search process and what companies are looking for.

My major has also done a lot to prepare me for the real workforce. It was not until I started interning at creative agencies that I realized how our professors had to recreate project structures and deadlines to mimic those of an agency. I felt very comfortable with the process and pace of the workload when I was interning, making me feel more confident in my ability to go straight to work after graduation.

Tips for underclassmen?

You've probably heard it a million times but connect and network with your professors. Your professors are extremely helpful when it comes to expanding your network. Try to plan ahead when it comes to taking classes. You do not want to push all of your electives or immersion classes until the end. You will want your last semester or two to be a little lighter on the coursework. Not only will senior-year classes be a bit tougher (especially with any senior thesis or capstone you may have), but you will want the time to start applying for jobs on the side.

Last, but not least, good luck! Enjoy the time, it really does fly past. Don't stress yourself out so much that you are wishing the time away. Take a step back and look at the big picture. You got this.

One of my favorite features about RIT is that we share a campus with another college! The Rochester Institute of Technology and the National Technical Institute of the Deaf have shared a campus since NTID began operating in 1968.

About 10% of our students at RIT/NTID are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. This means that RIT’s campus has a rich Deaf community and there are ample opportunities to get exposed to Deaf culture and start learning American Sign Language. My freshman year at RIT, I lived in Mark Ellingson Hall on a mainstream floor with hearing, Deaf, and Hard of Hearing students. One of my Residential Advisors was Deaf as well! I’ve always loved learning more ASL and was extremely excited to immerse myself in Deaf culture and improve my skills.

If you’re interested in learning American Sign Language, one of the first resources people will direct you to is No Voice Zone. This is an event that takes place every Wednesday Night in the Student Development Center. As soon as you enter the room, you are not allowed to use your voice. If you don’t know any ASL, you will be given a whiteboard so you can write down what you want to say or write down any questions you have. They’ll start you out with the basics like the alphabet and as you improve, you’ll move into more advanced groups. This event is a lot of fun to attend with friends and it’s an awesome way to make new friends!

RIT’s College of Liberal Arts also offers a plethora of ASL classes. If you wanted to learn it formally, this is a great opportunity for you to take! All of our ASL classes are conducted 100% in ASL without any spoken English. If you are in ASL I, there will be a voice interpreter on the first day but after that, they won’t be in your class again. This might scare you, but don’t worry! The professors are incredibly clear and if you don’t understand something that they’re signing, they can tell and will do everything they can to help you understand them.

If you have some free time and are on the academic side of campus, you should visit the Wallace Center - which is where our campus library is. On the first floor is a really cool space called the RIT ASL Deaf Studies Community Center which is also known as RADSCC. It’s a really great place to hang out and meet some Deaf or Hard of Hearing students and faculty members.

Finally, every fall semester, there is a Deaf event hosted right outside the Student Development Center called Applefest. Deaf clubs, businesses, and fraternities/sororities table outside and are available for you to interact with. There’s music, dancing, and free food (mostly apple related)!

I would highly recommend taking an ASL class or getting involved in the Deaf community on RIT’s campus. You will not only learn a new language but will also get immersed in another culture and make some amazing friends!

In honor of the first snow of this academic year, which happened on Thursday, November 9th, I felt it was appropriate to talk about the weather at RIT, and how to be best prepared for it.

You see, I’m an international student from Mexico, so if anyone was worried about the weather, it was me! Up until I came to RIT, I didn’t own winter clothes – just a few sweaters – and the coldest temperature I had ever experienced was around 30° F (just below 0° Celsius, for any international students wondering). I quickly understood that sweaters would not be enough, so I had to scramble to get winter clothes before the winter started.

Thankfully, you won’t have to run into the same issue, because by reading this blog you’ll be fully prepared before you come to campus! Here’s what you should know:

How long is winter? The cold weather begins right around mid-November, and it can last all the way through April. The coldest months are definitely January and February.

Don’t be afraid of the Winter. Yes - it gets really cold, but with the appropriate clothing, you should be just fine. Winter can actually be really pretty, especially if you’ve never seen snow before.

Sunglasses: This doesn’t seem like an obvious one, but when the sun is out during the winter, it reflects off of the snow on the ground, and it can really damage your eyes.

Learn how to use the tunnels. You won’t be able to get everywhere through the tunnels, but you can minimize the time you have to be outside significantly. Luckily, you’ll have about 3 months to practice using the tunnels before it starts becoming necessary, so you’ll find the fastest route to get to your buildings.

Check your weather app before leaving your room. Rochester is notorious for having unpredictable weather, and even on days where the mornings are warm, the evenings can suddenly turn into an arctic tundra. You may get to experience all four seasons in a single day! Knowing what to expect throughout the day will allow you to be ready for whatever comes your way (I always have an umbrella, gloves and ear muffs in my backpack, just in case).

Check for Windchill. When you open your weather app, the temperature may be deceiving, and you may think it is warmer than it will actually be. That is because, in Rochester, the wind is the real killer. With wind chill, a temperature of 20° F could feel like 2° F (or less!), so make sure that you scroll down on your weather app until you find the “Wind Chill” or “Feels Like” temperature.

Have Fun! If you have taken the appropriate measures, and are dressed appropriately, playing in the snow is so much fun! Don’t let the cold weather deter you from having a snowball fight, going sledding, skiing, etc. You are going to be surrounded by snow for a few months, so learn to enjoy it.

If you are still worried about the winter, and that is something that may be preventing you from coming to RIT, I have this to say: If I could survive my first winter here, EVERYONE can survive their first winter here. I hope this was helpful!

Fall is by far my favorite season of the year. Being a local Rochesterian, I love taking friends from RIT to discover some of my favorite things in fall.

Here is my fall bucket list:

Go Apple Picking!

There are lots of orchards not too far off campus. If you do not have a car, there are a couple ways to still make it apple picking. Quite a few clubs and organizations will go in the fall with their members, and you also have the option to rent a Zipcar for the day.

Bake Apple Crisp

After picking apples (or buying some from the grocery store), I love to make apple crisp. I prefer making it from scratch, but you can buy apple crisp kits at the store as well that have all the ingredients measured for you already (like the sugar and cinnamon).

Go Pumpkin Picking

It wouldn't be fall without pumpkin picking. I have a few local favorites when it comes to picking pumpkins: Powers Farm Market, Zarpentine Farms, Growmore Farms, Wambach Farms, Stoke Farms, ... I could go on.

Carve a Pumpkin

If you go pumpkin picking, carve the pumpkin! If you are living in the residence halls and do not want to deal with all the guts of the pumpkin, I recommend getting a baby pumpkin and painting it (it lasts longer). Otherwise, carve it up! (But no candles in RIT housing; get electric instead).

Go to a Park

One of my favorite things about Rochester in the fall is seeing the leaves change. Rochester has quite a few great parks in the area that would be perfect for a fall walk, looking at all the colorful leaves. We also happen to be driving distance from Letchworth, the number 1 state park in the country - and it is GORGEOUS in the fall.

Enjoy a cup of hot apple cider

Mmmmmm. This can be accomplished right on campus! Many of the coffee locations serve up special fall drinks, including apple cider (hot and cold). I love warming up from a brisk fall day with a nice hot apple cider with some powder cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Go to a Fall Festival

If you are not able to attend any of the summer festivals in Rochester, you have a few opportunities in the fall. I also try to make it to the Apple Festival in Hilton. RIT's College Activities Board took a bunch of buses to the event this year so students without cars could make it to the event. I also attended a mini-festival in Clarence, NY, at the Great Pumpkin Farm. It had all the classics - fried food, a corn maze, a haunted house, pumpkins, and a hayride.

Haunted House/Hayride

Speaking of haunted houses... When it gets closer to Halloween, grab some friends and find a haunted house or haunted hayride near campus. There are quite a few that pop up near campus in the fall - and many offer student discounts with your RIT ID.

Get Lost in a Corn Maze

Another fall favorite of mine is going through a corn maze. I know it's corny, but I have an aMAZEing time. There a few different place off campus that have corn mazes. Some are haunted, and some are not. I personally prefer a not-haunted, day-time corn maze. I love haunted houses, but I would hate to have the feeling of being STALKed in a corn maze...

These are my top fall bucket-list items. Hopefully, it'll give you some ideas for your own fall bucket-list.

This weekend, I participated in RIT's School of Film and Animation's annual Ani-Jam competition. The competition is a 24-hour animated short film contest where teams of up to 5 people stay up all night and crank out a film. Even though I am in my third year of undergrad, I have never had the opportunity to take a stab at it. This year, however, I was able to carve some time out of my schedule, get together a team of 3 of my best friends, and try our hand at it.

All of the teams in the running met in the School of Film and Animation in Gannett Hall at 12:30pm on Saturday, October 21 for an info session. There were 12 teams, ranging from undergrad to graduate students of all concentrations: 3D, 2D, and stop-motion. We were given a very vague prompt and cast off into the wild to make a film relating to it. We would not be able to leave the building until Sunday, October 22 after 12:30pm.

1pm-6pm: We spent most of this time trying to hash out a narrative that related to the prompt. The prompt being, "The lid of the box was open...". Because this sentence is so vague, it could literally be about anything, so my team spent a lot of time spitballing ideas.

6pm-8pm: We started production for our final idea. Since we already had completed 6 hours of pre-production (story ideas, storyboards, character designs, concept art, animatic, shot list, etc), we felt we were in a good place to begin. We divvied up the work between the 4 of us depending on what we felt our strong suits or interests were. For example, I mostly animated and did post-production (editing, compositing), while one of my teammates did mostly background art and sound work.

8pm-4am: We started to lose our minds. We kept playing the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme on repeat. I don't remember much after that, I fell asleep on the couch in the undergrad lab at like 2am and slept on and off until around 7am.

4am-10am: Like I said, I was asleep for a good majority of this. My teammates took turns just trying to get all of our work into a Premiere file so we could make a final edit with final sound and music. While I was awake, we tried to agree on music that we thought fit the theme of our film the best.

10am-12:30pm: Our team finished pretty early despite starting production so late. We were completely done around 11:30am-ish. We hung out until 12:30pm, then went to watch everyone else's work. Everyone had really cool animations and stories, and it was just super cool to see how everyone else interpreted the prompt.

Overall, Ani-Jam was a fantastic experience and I will definitely be participating next year. I highly recommend this competition to any student studying in the School of Film and Animation, or to anyone interested in visual storytelling. There was also pizza, snacks, and animation trivia, which really spiced things up. It's really fun and rewarding to see your blood, sweat, and tears become something real for others to enjoy. That's why I love animation, and why I'm really happy choosing the major that I did.

* The Ani-Jam films will be screened at SOFA's semester screenings this December, and the audience gets to vote on which films they think should win prizes like Wacom tablets, animation software licenses, and cameras. If you're interested, I highly recommend checking them out!

I remember when I came to RIT as a freshman and feeling a bit overwhelmed by the number of activities that take place on campus. With approximately 300 clubs and numerous other departments on campus, all hosting events every week (I’d even dare to say everyday), it was hard to figure out exactly what I wanted to do, or what was important for me to do in order to get the full “RIT Experience.” Other than this, I also wanted to go out and explore Rochester, an area I knew nothing about. I was getting different recommendations from different people, and it just seemed that I was never going to be able to do everything I wanted to do.

Now that I am in my senior year, and I have done quite a lot both on and off campus, I am taking it upon myself to create an “RIT Bucket List,” for any new or potential student to have somewhere to start with. This list comes from talking to several of my friends, coworkers, and even professors. This list is in no way comprehensive – there’s so much more to do that may be an incredible experience – but these are what I found to be the more popular things to do during your time here. This list will be broken down into two, one for on-campus activities, and one for off-campus.

Here’s what we came up with for on-campus:

- -Attend Imagine RIT

- -Go to No Voice Zone

- -Play Humans vs. Zombies (recommended for first-year while you have more time).

- -Participate in Mud Tug.

- -Spend a day at the Park Point, Province, or The Lodge’s pool while the weather is nice.

- -Take a photo riding the Tiger Statue.

- -GO TO A HOMECOMING HOCKEY GAME AT THE BLUE CROSS ARENA.

- -Get a selfie with President Munson.

- -Be Ritchie (our mascot) for an event.

- -Go to Bow Wow wellness and pet puppies.

- -Go Ice Skating at the Ritter Ice Arena

- -Eat a Tech Crew from Brick City, and eat a Mascot from Ritz (chicken sandwiches)

- -Go to Saturday brunch at Salsarita’s.

- -Go rock climbing at the Red Barn.

- -Spin around on the chairs in the Library.

- -Participate in Relay for Life.

- -Eat a Garbage Plate.

- -Explore the tunnels on the academic side of campus.

- -Go to a concert on campus.

- -Sit by the fire in Global Village.

- -Explore the trails in the woods by Gracie’s.

- -Go to a theatre production on campus (by RIT Players or NTID, or hopefully both!)

- -Try all the visiting chefs at the different eating locations.

- -Attend Freeze Fest and Spring Fest events.

- -Follow the “RIT Foodshare” Facebook page to see where all the free food is on campus.

- -Play in the snow with your friends (build a snowman, have a snowball fight, build an igloo, go sledding).

- -Go on the balcony on Gannett building.

- -Eat at Henry’s, the “secret” restaurant in the 4th floor of Eastman

- -Paint the rock

- -Find the 4th floor of the library.

- -Paint a mural in the tunnels.

- -Eat at a food truck when they come to campus.

- -Go to “Brick Bash” during Orientation.

- - Get on the 7th floor of Eastman to look at the Sentinel statue and see if it actually looks like a knight riding a horse.

- -Get coffee from every coffee place on campus.

Keep on the lookout for the follow up to this list, to find out what are the must-do items off-campus!

Student Government has been my home for the past 3 years on campus. The SG office has been the place where I go to do work, eat lunch, and hang out. I have been a part of the SG team since my second year at RIT, and I couldn’t be happier to be the President this year. I have seen the organization grow so much, and offer so many amazing things for students. So I wanted to take some time and highlight some of Student Government’s top resources/services, and how we help make students’ lives better.

Our biggest service is called PawPrints, which is an online petition system where any student can log-in and create or sign petitions for Student Government. When a petition hits threshold, which is 200 signatures, then SG will issue an official response to it. This is an amazing tool that really helps empower students and give them a voice for important matters on campus. We have had over 900 petitions in the three years that PawPrints has existed! Thanks to PawPrints, we’ve been able to open the Library 24 hours during the weekdays, pass a Grade Feedback Policy requiring professors to provide timely (within two weeks) feedback on all assignments, and even got the former President of RIT to give a concert on campus!

Last year, SG started an initiative called Project SpiRIT, which is meant to increase school spirit, and attendance at on-campus events. It is a point system, in which certain events are labeled as “SpiRIT Events,” and any student that attends those events gets points. Also, every Friday is SpiRIT Friday, and any student who comes to the SG office wearing RIT apparel also gets points. At the end of the semester, the students with the most points win awesome prizes! In the past years we’ve given a 43-inch flat-screen TV, an Xbox One, Maroon 5 Concert Tickets, a $500 Barnes & Noble gift card, and a $500 airline ticket voucher! Project SpiRIT hopes to create a campus culture where all students are proud to be an RIT Tiger!

Do you enjoy napping? Well you are in luck! Last year, the Student Government services team developed a Nap Map of campus! This service, appropriately called Naps, shows all the best napping areas on our campus, ranked by how quiet they are, how comfortable, and even by light-intensity! Napping enthusiasts rejoice!

If you are more into the active lifestyle, and you enjoy biking, but didn’t want to bring your bike all the way from home, then worry not! We have a Bikeshare, sponsored by Student Government and the Parking and Transportation Office, where students can borrow a bike for up to 24 hours, completely free! We are actively expanding our fleet, so that even more students, whether they are hardcore bikers, or just enjoy a leisurely ride, can use this service.

One more thing I’ll say, is that SG gives out free popcorn every day at the office! And once a month, we do an event called Dunkin’ with your Delegates, where we give out free coffee and donuts! There is never a lack of free food at RIT.

These are just some of SG’s biggest services, but there’s so much more that we have to offer. If you ever want to find out more, feel free to go on the SG website: sg.rit.edu, or follow us on social media! Other than the services listed above, the Student Government is here to make sure that all students’ needs are met, and all of their concerns addressed, so that we will all enjoy our time on campus!

It’s week six which means we’re almost halfway through the first semester! This also means that a lot of us are starting to feel a little overwhelmed with our workload, but never fear! I have some amazing tips to help you organize your homework and projects!

The number one most helpful thing that I use is my whiteboard. You can write down your to-do list for that week (or even day) as well as any due dates for the week that you may have. I tend to use checklists since I get an immense feeling of satisfaction from checking all those boxes. It’s also incredibly helpful to save a corner of your whiteboard and write down any upcoming events you have this month. It helps you plan ahead and clear your mind.

Color code your folders for each class. This might sound lame but I color code my folders for each class depending on how I feel about the class. Personally, math isn’t my favorite subject so my folder for math is red which is my least favorite color. My Psychology folder is an Avengers folder (I know it’s not a color but hey, they’re awesome alright?) because I love my Psychology class almost as much as I love the Avengers. I also have a green folder for one of my other classes because I happen to enjoy that class and green is my favorite color. This way when I’m packing my backpack for each day, it’s easy to know which folders I need.

Have a separate notebook for each class. If you have a 3-5 subject notebook, you should save them and use them for related classes. For example, I have a 3 subject notebook that I use for my T/TH classes which are Intro to Interpreting, Oppression in the Lives of Deaf People, and Linguistics of ASL. All of these classes are related and I only need to bring one notebook with me on those days. This will be especially helpful if you need to take notes while studying or doing an assigned reading and you can take notes while you do the assignment.

If you have group projects like, make a poll for availability. Trust me, it can be difficult to schedule around everyone’s personal schedule. The easiest way to make plans for group project meetings is to take a poll and find the times that work for everyone. It’s simple and it will save you a lot of time. Start your group project as quickly as you can. Once it’s started, you’ll be able to figure out how many more times you’ll need to meet and can plan accordingly.

Finally, get a planner. It might sound like something your mom might do but it’s actually really helpful! It keeps your mind organized and throughout the week if you get confused about a due date or an assignment, you can check your planner to make sure you know what’s going on!

Since I am part of the LGBTQIA+ community at RIT, I can attest that there are multiple clubs, organizations, and offices that are here to help you through anything that might come up. As someone who is transgender and pansexual, I wanted to talk about my experiences on campus and where you can find support when you need it.

The number one thing that helped me through my first year at RIT was the Q Center. If you’ve never heard of it, the Q Center is located on the A Level of the Student Alumni Union. They’ve got a great student lounge, a new mind spa (a very relaxing room that even includes aroma therapy), as well as an amazing library with many books written by and for queer people. My first semester at RIT, I stumbled upon this center. It’s a great place to meet other queer people, relax in between classes, get some books, plus it’s conveniently located near the RITZ Sports Zone (if you're hungry). You can even get free bracelets and pins there as well!

The Center for Women and Gender is also here to support LGBTQIA+ students. If you ever need to talk to anyone about how you’re doing, their counseling staff is equipped to help you deal with any issues you’re experiencing. They are an incredibly affirming and accepting organization, plus there is always free chocolate!

If you’ve visited the Q Center before, you may know that they have a list of all the LGBTQIA+ clubs on campus as well as their meeting times. I’m only going to discuss the clubs I’ve personally been involved with in depth. I’ll list the other club names so, if you would like to, you can check them out. First, we have Labrys which is a club for someone who identifies as any percent female or any percent queer. Enby is a club for non-binary folx and A-Space is a club for Aromantic/Asexual people.

Tangent is the first group I got involved with during my first fall semester. Tangent is a support group for non-binary, or transgender people. It’s a really great place to go and discuss any challenges you’ve faced that week or even something amazing that’s happened to you! It’s a great place to meet other people that have experienced some of the same situations as you. It was really comforting hearing other people say that they understood where I was coming from and sharing what they did to overcome those challenges. Tangent is a very safe environment for you to express yourself in and I definitely recommend it, even if you’re questioning and aren’t sure of your gender identity yet.

RITGA is RIT’s LGBTQIA+ alliance. It’s a great place to go and meet people from all different walks of life. RITGA normally has a lot of different events throughout the semester so keep an eye out. Recently, they just had Rainbow Week and some of those events included ice skating, brick painting, a bbq, and even a lock in! They meet every Wednesday night at 9 pm in Kate Gleason A500.

I hope you learned a little bit of what RIT has to offer in respect to LGBTQIA+ life on campus. Keep your eyes open for any flyers or emails about events on campus. Have an amazing week 4.